Dr. André Longtin, a Cross-Cutting Theme Lead for the uOBMRI’s Brain Dynamics group was featured in an eLife article for his project on “Shortcutting From Self-Motion Signals Reveals a Cognitive Map in Mice”.
This study looks at whether animals like mice form “cognitive maps” of their surroundings and adjust to changes in the environment using their internal mental representations of space. These mental maps, and the ability to imagine routes in our brains, are compromised in people with Alzheimer’s disease. This research will now be done in an Alzheimer’s mouse model which will help to uncover new insights on how memory works, which pathways are damaged in disease and how to find ways to repair them.
You can read the full article here.